Monasterio de Santa Clara la Real: A Poor Clare Monastery in Murcia
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Almoravid, Crown of Castile, Spanish, Taifa Kingdoms
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Monastery
On this page17 sections
History
Monasterio de Santa Clara la Real is a Poor Clare monastery in Murcia, Spain, whose fourteenth-century foundation adapted two earlier Muslim palace complexes. The site brings together Islamic, Gothic, Baroque, and Rococo phases, reflecting Murcia’s transition from Muslim rule to the Christian monarchy and the continuing religious use of the complex by the Order of the Poor Clares, the women’s branch of the Franciscan movement founded by Saint Clare of Assisi.
Muslim Palaces before the Monastery
The earliest known occupation was a late Almoravid recreational palace built before 1145. Known as Dar As-Sugra, it stood outside the walls of the medina, the historic walled centre of an Islamic city, in the northern part of the Arrixaca suburb. The Acequia Mayor Aljufía, an irrigation canal, supplied important water along the southern side of the site.
Between 1147 and 1172, Ibn Mardanis, the Muslim ruler of Murcia commonly called the Wolf King, reformed or rebuilt Dar As-Sugra. His additions enlarged and enriched the palace during the Mardanisid period. After the Almohad conquest of Murcia in 1172, the palace fell out of use, and its paintings were concealed in response to Almohad religious orthodoxy.
Between 1228 and 1238, Ibn Hud al-Mutawakkil built the smaller recreational palace Al-Qasr al-Sagir over the earlier complex. He established the Third Taifa of Murcia, one of the independent or semi-independent Muslim states that emerged when larger caliphates and dynasties fragmented. Following the Treaty of Alcaraz in 1243, Murcia became a protectorate of the Crown of Castile while retaining Muslim autonomy. After a Christian garrison occupied the main alcázar, a fortified palace or royal residence, Al-Qasr al-Sagir became the permanent home of the Muslim royal family, then headed by Ibn Hud al-Dawla.
Christian Royal Residence and Poor Clare Foundation
The Mudéjar revolt was suppressed by James I of Aragon, and Murcia came definitively under Christian control on 2 February 1266. Al-Qasr al-Sagir then became a royal residence of the Castilian monarchy. Alfonso X, Violante of Aragon, and James I of Aragon spent extended periods there during visits to the Kingdom of Murcia. The larger estate, with baths, orchards, and gardens, was divided among royal beneficiaries, including the Castilian king and his family. In 1274 James I stayed in areas known as the Real de la Reina and the estate of the Infante Don Fernando.
Parts of the palace estate had already been granted to the Franciscans. In 1365, Peter I of Castile donated his palace chambers to Abbess Berenguela de Espín and the Order of the Poor Clares. Bishop Nicolás de Aguilar authorized the nuns in 1367 to convert the partly ruined palace into a convent. The former Muslim courtyard became the centre of monastic life as arcades and adjoining rooms were gradually built around it. The Poor Clares have retained the palace chambers since the fourteenth-century donation.
Growth and Architectural Change
The monastery prospered at the end of the fifteenth century under the personal protection of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, known jointly as the Catholic Monarchs. Their support, combined with substantial dowries from powerful families such as the Pachecos and Fajardos, financed major Gothic works.
During the seventeenth century, parts of the monastery were remodelled. Melchor de Luzón built a new Baroque church, while the upper choir of the Gothic church was retained. In the eighteenth century, the church interior was redecorated in the Rococo style, including the decoration of the crossing dome.
War, Reuse, and Restoration
Financial difficulties in the twentieth century led the Poor Clares to dispose of the west wing. It was later recovered for the Las Claras Socio-Cultural Center of CajaMurcia. During the Spanish Civil War, the monastery was closed to its community and converted into a military barracks. From April to November 1939, Francoist forces used it as Murcia Concentration Camp No. 3.
After the nuns returned, the south wing was leased during the 1960s and demolished for a garage. Major restoration began in 1980. A new residence for the nuns was built in the south wing in 1995, allowing the Islamic palace elevations in the north wing to be reconstructed and the former courtyard to be recovered.
Archaeological and restoration work revealed remains of both the Hudid palace and the earlier Mardanisid palace. Islamic archaeological material and sacred art from the monastery are displayed in the Museum of Santa Clara, established in part of the complex. Monasterio de Santa Clara la Real has been protected as a Spanish cultural monument since its designation as a Property of Cultural Interest in 1981, under reference RI-51-0004527.
Remains
The surviving complex is organized around the former Islamic palace spaces and the monastic buildings added to them. Its physical fabric combines palace gardens, water features, decorated halls, Gothic arcades, a Gothic upper choir, and the later Baroque church. The monastery cloister partly recreates the large open courtyard of Al-Qasr al-Sagir, while the northern palace rooms and archaeological remains preserve evidence of the earlier Dar As-Sugra.
Islamic Palaces and Gardens
Al-Qasr al-Sagir Courtyard
The Hudid palace represents a transitional phase between Almohad and Nasrid art. Its courtyard is arranged around two intersecting walkways, four rectangular planted beds, and a large central pool. This composition is described as unique among known palace courtyards in the Iberian Peninsula and as an important precursor of later Nasrid palace designs.
The pool is aligned north to south and measures approximately 27.5 by 7.5 metres. It was filled after the palace became a monastery but was found almost intact during excavation. Palynological studies, which examine ancient pollen to identify past vegetation, guided the replanting of the four beds with palms, plum trees, and citrus trees.
Portico and Palace Hall
A long portico precedes the pool and gardens. It contains three scalloped arches, small raised side chambers, and a central fountain reconstructed from the original feature, which was probably connected to the pool. Beyond the portico, the entrance leads to the palace hall, where original stucco decoration survives.
The hall has broad raised side chambers, or alhanias, framed by slender polychrome lobed arches resting on semi-columns with acanthus-leaf capitals. A rectangular alfiz, the frame around an Islamic arch, encloses the arches and carries cursive inscriptions. The lobes have nacelle mouldings with epigraphic ornament on red and blue grounds. These halls probably served for audiences, the reception of embassies, and the administration of justice.
Dar As-Sugra Garden
Excavation beneath the northern hall of the thirteenth-century palace exposed a large twelfth-century cruciform garden courtyard belonging to Dar As-Sugra. Brick-paved walkways and platforms divided the space into shallow garden plots, while cross-shaped channels extended toward a qubba, a domed pavilion or chamber, placed where the arms met.
Decorated material from Dar As-Sugra includes polychrome carved stucco associated with Almoravid and Mardanisid work. One figurative muqarnas, a three-dimensional honeycomb-like architectural ornament, is known as The Flute Player and depicts a woman playing a mizmar, a reed or double-reed wind instrument.
Monastic Architecture
Cloister and Arcades
The monastery cloister occupies and partly recreates the arrangement of the former Muslim courtyard. Monastic arcades were added progressively around the space, and the cloister now connects the palace remains with the museum areas. The Gothic complex includes a double, irregular arcade attached to the ranges and façades of the Islamic portico.
The lower arcade has depressed torso arches, while the upper level uses multifoil arches. Together, these two levels form the characteristic appearance of the monastery and show how the convent developed around the earlier palace architecture.
Gothic Upper Choir
The surviving portion of the original Gothic church is a square upper choir, probably dating from the beginning of the sixteenth century. Its ceiling has a star vault, with hanging keystones at the points where the ribs meet.
Paintings on the vault and ribs retain Gothic elements. They portray a spiritual army fighting darkness, including dragons with open eyes and jaws. The upper choir was retained when the later church was built.
Baroque Church
The present church was structurally built in the seventeenth century by Melchor de Luzón. Its façade has two levels. The lower level is simple and approximately equal in height to the church naves, while the upper level consists of two latticework towers.
Eighteenth-century Rococo stucco decorates the interior and the underside of the crossing dome. The church also contains a free-standing altarpiece-tabernacle made by José Ganga Ripoll and Francisco Salzillo in 1755, an Immaculate Conception by Salzillo dated 1730, and a Saint Joseph and Child group dated 1733 to 1735.
Museum Collections
Islamic Art and Archaeology
The Islamic Art and Archaeology section of the Museum of Santa Clara occupies the northern hall of the Hudid palace. It presents architectural material recovered during excavation and restoration, including carved and decorated wood, ataurique dadoes, or panels with stylized vegetal decoration, carved and painted stucco, and remains of a muqarnas roof.
The collection includes a carved arrocabe, a horizontal timber framework or frieze supporting the upper part of a roof, together with corbels, geometric latticework friezes, figurative muqarnas, and painted dadoes linked to the Mardanisid palace. The same section displays Islamic archaeological material from the Archaeological Museum of Murcia, including the gold hoards from Plaza Yesqueros and Calle Jabonerías in Murcia, the hoard from La Pita in Alhama de Murcia, a dirham hoard from Cehegín, and other luxurious Islamic objects and assemblages. Inscribed voussoirs from the Mardanisid-period Castillejo de Monteagudo palace are also displayed.
Sacred Art
The sacred-art section occupies the eastern wing and upper choir. It includes the sixteenth-century altarpiece of Saint Clare by Jerónimo Ballesteros, an altarpiece of Saint John the Evangelist attributed to Andrés de Llanos, and a Last Supper predella, the lower section of an altarpiece, from the same period.
Other works include sculptures by Diego de Mora, Francisco Salzillo, and Roque López, paintings by Senén Vila, documents, and luxury objects. Salzillo’s Christ of the Isabelas, also called Christ of the Good Death, is dated 1770. The Immaculate Conception and the Saint Joseph and Child group are associated with rich polychromy, small-scale figures, and extensive gilding. Part of the monastery houses the Museum of Santa Clara, while the west wing contains the Las Claras Cultural Center of CajaMurcia.
